Largest floating wind farm operational off the Portuguese coast

2020-01-03T15:49:31.117Z

The largest floating wind farm to date came operational on Friday off the Portuguese coast. The three wind turbines, with a combined capacity of 25 megawatts, partly serve as a pilot project to test the viability of the technology.

The largest floating wind farm to date came operational on Friday off the Portuguese coast. The three wind turbines, with a combined capacity of 25 megawatts, partly serve as a pilot project to test the viability of the technology.

The wind turbines will produce as much green energy as 60,000 households use each year, according to developer EDP Renewable, ENGIE, Repsol and Principle Power.

This is the second floating wind farm in Europe. Earlier, floating windmills were installed off the Scottish coast.

Offshore wind turbines are especially easy to install in shallow places. For example, there is a lot of room in the North Sea for offshore wind turbines due to the favorable water depth.

But some countries, such as France, South Korea and Japan, have less room for this, but still have the ambition to produce green electricity.

To make it possible that green electricity can be produced from wind turbines, developers are working on floating turbines. These turbines are fixed in one place with several anchors.

The wind turbines off the coast of Portugal are floating at a location with a water depth of 100 meters. Conventional offshore wind turbines are now being built at depths of up to 50 to 55 meters.